Sight
by sinemoras09
Summary: AU. This is what remains. What if it were the Hyuuga massacre? Gen. Angst. Neji, Hinata, mentions of Itachi and Sasuke. Spoilers for chapter 404. Warnings for character death.


_Author's note: from the naruto_meme "What if" prompt, "What if it was the Hyuuga massacre?"_

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People cannot escape their fate. This is what he knows.

Around him, the elders stand, faces hidden behind porcelain masks. "You are the only one," the masked man says. He steps from the shadows, then offers Neji his hand. "An eye for an eye; a truth for a truth. We both know there is no other choice."

A candle flickers; on the table, the bingo book is opened to the page where Hinata's name is etched in black ink; her photograph is faded and creased at the corners.

Neji nods, then offers them a low-sweeping bow.

xXx

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Neji is tortured by memories of the clan. Before, Hyuuga populated the streets of Konoha, silver-eyed children laughing and playing in the grass. Now the citizens give him a wide berth, whispering furtively whenever Neji walks past.

"She let him live." Prying eyes search his; even without his Byakugan active, Neji knows they are probing, silently wondering. "Why would she keep him alive?"

"Maybe he was too skilled," one woman says. "Maybe he fought her off."

"Maybe it was pity," the other womans says.

Neji stuffs his hands into his pockets, glaring at the ground.

xXx

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The Uchiha offer nothing but false sympathy. "You should stay with us," Sasuke says, but Neji declines, instead sleeping alone in the empty Hyuuga compound.

One day, there is a knock at the door. Neji opens it to find Itachi standing at the stoop carrying a basket of food. Neji peers forward and recognizes all the dishes his mother used to make. Itachi smiles, kindly. "Sharingan," Itachi says. He looks somewhat sheepish as he hands him the items. "It is useful for things outside of combat, as well."

Neji doesn't have to taste the food to know they are perfect facsimiles of his mother's cooking. Itachi and Sasuke had been over once, maybe twice before, and Itachi is a genius. Neji knows he could easily replicate any dish without really trying.

Neji bristles suddenly, then pushes the food back.

"Thanks, but no," Neji says. He starts to close the door when Itachi catches the handle.

"Neji-kun," Itachi says. "I cannot pretend I am not worried about you. Sasuke says you have begun to isolate yourself, and I cannot stand idly by. You are letting yourself waste away."

"You are not my brother," Neji says. His Byakugan throbs. "Go away," Neji says, again. Itachi frowns, then nods.

"As you wish," Itachi says.

It's only later that night that Neji finds the food still sitting outside his door.

xXx

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They call it the Mangekyo Byakugan. It was how she slaughtered their clan.

Neji will never forget the way Hinata looked at him, her Byakugan throbbing and her eyes rimmed by a strange silvery light. Her irises were almost indistinct from the rest of her eyes; she looked soulless, evil, her Byakugan glowing softly in the dark.

"Hinata." Neji's hand reflexively clasped his kunai. "What happened? What is this?"

"It is exactly as it looks," Hinata said. "Remember what you said to me, Neji-kun? That I was too soft, too weak to be the leader of our clan? You called me a failure," she said, and her eyes narrowed. "I set out to prove them wrong."

Neji burst forward, "Byakugan!" but Hinata was too quick. Suddenly he was blinded with pain.

Neji screamed. He fell to his knees, blood dripping down the side of his face. He ripped off his head protector to find his curse mark pulsing: it burned, searing into his skin. Neji looked up at Hinata, agonized.

"Do you still think I am a failure, Neji-kun?" Hinata asked, softly. She knelt beside him, catching his chin between her thumb and her index finger as he writhed on the ground.

"You are from the Branch House," Hinata said. "You couldn't kill me even if you tried."

xXx

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In the days before the massacre, Hanabi went missing. The Hyuuga searched far and wide until they came across her body floating in the river, her white nightgown sticking to her like a second skin. "An accident," they said. "It must have been an accident." But when Neji thinks back, he remembers Hinata's face, and the strange silver glint that circled Hinata's eyes.

He had been on a mission that night; Lee and Tenten had retired and Neji was coming home, muscles sore and aching. It was dark, too dark, and Neji could barely see; his footsteps echoed softly, the streets shadowed by the cloud-cover hiding the moon.

Something was wrong. Reflexively, Neji's Byakugan activated. His eyes widened.

Countless bodies were piled on the ground.

xXx

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She's joined the Akatsuki. Her black cloak billows around her small frame, her eyes like snakes as she stares at him.

Neji's a jounin, but he's no match for her eyes, which see past his defenses with ease. Unlike him, she has no blind spot, and her speed is twice that of normal nin.

"Neji!" Sasuke's sharingan flashes. Hinata whirls.

"You think you can trap me in your genjutsu, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata's voice is soft, taunting. "My field of vision encompasses everything; your illusion is like a small screen, a black blip in my perfect view."

"Byakugan!" Neji's eyes flash. Hinata laughs, mirthlessly.

"You cannot defeat my eyes, Neji-kun," Hinata says. She disappears into a whirl of smoke. "You cannot even try."

He can barely react when she reaches up toward him, small hands pinning the vital points of his chakra and sapping what energy he had left. Neji falls to his knees, his vision dimming; the last thing he sees is Hinata's eyes.

xXx

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Neji wakes in a hospital bed, body stiff and riddled with pain. Tsunade stands over him, a worried look in her eyes.

His teammates visit him; Neji stares out the window, only barely listening as Lee jostles with Tenten and Naruto pushes him aside. Outside, the sky is gray and the trees are bare and cold. Somewhere, Hinata is out there, mocking her birthright as heir to the Hyuuga clan.

It is just the two of them, now. The Branch House and the Main house.

This is what remains.

xXx

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It is dark when Neji slips out of the hospital, treading quietly on the old dirt path. But he's not alone; even without his Byakugan, he can see Tenten standing at the gate, hands crushed into fists and screwing her face up, tight.

"You can't do this," Tenten says. Neji's jaw clenches. She touches him on the arm. "Neji," Tenten says. "You can't."

Neji doesn't tell her about the men in ANBU masks; he doesn't tell her about the photograph in the Bingo Book, or the look of madness in Hinata's eyes.

"I have to," Neji says. He gently moves Tenten's hand from his arm; her hands are small and warm.

Tenten's face crumbles. She pushes past him before he can see her cry.

xXx

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Rain falls, and Hyuuga Neji kneels by Hinata's body and sobs.

Neji clenches his eyes, then presses his hands against her skin, which is cold and pale. There are scratches and bruises on her skin, and the rain slides down her face like tears. Behind him, Hyuuga Madara stands quietly, watching behind the mask.

"She didn't want you to know," Madara says. He steps forward, then touches Neji on the shoulder. "She would have rather died than tell you the truth."

Neji says nothing; he reaches a hand out and carefully closes Hinata's eyes.

xXx

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The Uchiha face him, Konoha's last defense against the onslaught. But Neji's Byakugan is more powerful now. He can just make out the edges of their illusions, like a dark curtain fraying at the sides.

He has no blind spots. Kunai arc perfectly in the air, too fast and too precise for even the Sharingan to follow: unlike the Byakugan, the Sharingan's line of sight is limited, riddled with blind spots. Neji takes advantage and the Uchiha fall like leaves, their genjutsu useless in the face of his jutsu.

Those who were once his allies attack him from all sides, but Neji is too fast; they fall, like so many broken dolls, bodies littered all around him. Neji watches almost as if in slow motion as Itachi shouts and pushes his brother out of the way, the kunai slamming into Itachi's chest. Sasuke screams, falling to his knees and clutching his brother in his arms.

Konoha is in flames. Neji turns, his body dark against the fire. Around him, the red flames rise, embers caught in the current and floating upward into the cold night air.

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_Doujinshi based on the fic here: http: / / sinemoras . deviantart .com/art/Sight-152165014 (take out the spaces)_

**A/N: As far as Hinata becoming the missing-nin and Neji becoming the survivor? I dunno. I mostly just wanted to see Hinata being badass. Also I figure Neji wouldn't have been the greatest choice to wipe out the clan, since he's a Branch House Hyuuga and the Main House members could control his mark (dude, if Neji tried to asassinate the Main House, his forehead would explode :P). So yeah. Hinata it is! :)  
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